Nanuet Library Discusses Geothermal Test Well

At last week’s library board meeting, several topics were touched upon including the geothermal test well.

The library for Connecticut Wells to conduct a geothermal well test. Connecticut Wells works with architects and engineers by offering conductivity testing and test wells to determine an area’s performance and feasibility for geothermal energy.

A geothermal well is an alternate way to heat and cool buildings and homes, according to Connecticut Wells, which offers this service to residential homes as well. 

“We should have (the results) very soon,” said Bell. “The.” The results can be used for both the Nanuet Library and the Nanuet School District.

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In 2009, when the library was still considering a new building, the board planned to have Connecticut Wells do a geothermal well test. Although, the plans for the new building is on hold indefinitely, the board still went ahead with the well testing for several reasons:

“This building is old and the HVAC is very expensive to maintain and very temperamental. It’ll probably need to be replaced at great cost,” said Bell. The air condition unit in the adult reference area is the original from the late 60s.

“Since Connecticut Wells agreed to do the test well at the same estimate that was given to us in 2009, the board, looking to the future and because the money had been encumbered in past budgets, decided to have the test well dug for future information.”

She added that the information from the test well is permanent and that the procedure cost about $13,000.

“That includes the clean up, the water pit and everything they had to do,” said Bell.

During the public forum, Tim Donnelly, Library Board candidate, asked if a cost benefit analysis was done for the well.

“It seems there was a lot of money being spent and I was curious about … how it’ll break even with the Nanuet Library’s current bills,” said Donnelly.

“We will probably look into the cost of putting geothermal heating in and retrofitting the building,” said Board Member Arthur Winoker. “We’ll have to look at it very carefully because it will be expensive, but it will save us money over the long run. We’ll have to look at the cost benefit to see if we can afford the cost and recapture the benefits in a reasonable amount of time.”

Bell also clarified that this was just a test well and there wouldn’t be just one, but multiple wells installed for the library.

Connecticut Wells' website says that a small home can need two or three wells and a larger commercial project could require 50 to 60 wells.